The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for unloading a piece of equipment placed on a carrying vehicle or lorry. As used herein, the term lorry refers to any truck, trailer, railcar or similar transport vehicle used to transport equipment including, for example, flat bed trucks used for transporting large self-propelled land vehicles.
Various lorries are known in the prior art having a vehicle chassis equipped with a jib hinged on the forward portion of an arm. The rearward portion of the arm is hinged on the rearward portion of the vehicle chassis of the lorry. A jack is interposed between the vehicle chassis and the arm to control the tilting motion of the arm relative to the vehicle chassis.
An unloading apparatus is provided for lorries of this type to load, unload, and transport equipment on the chassis of the lorry. An example of an unloading apparatus of this type is described, for example, in French Pat. No. 2,297,747. The unloading apparatus is provided with an equipment-carrying platform, the forward portion of which is connected to the jib.
Vehicles of this type have a major disadvantage. When their engines or their hydraulic parts break down, it is impossible to recover the piece of equipment from the lorry without the aid of a crane.